Disclaimer: I don't own Shin Tenchi, and no one can prove otherwise!
Author's Note: Okay, so Chapter 8 got fixed easily enough. Now so long as this
loads okay, I will be a happy author. Enjoy!
**************************************************
The calm room around him melted away, as sleep overtook Hotsuma. The clean
lines of the eclectic furnishings and the paleness of the bed curtains dimly
illuminated by a console on his heavy desk all faded into the fake night of the
cavern room. He could only dimly feel the warmth of the cyan haired beauty
sleeping curled against his side. Her even breathing lulled him further down
the path of sleep, and soon he was no longer aware of anything inside the room.
For him sleep had always meant a quiet phase during which he recharged his
energy from Yugi, but tonight it felt different. His thoughts slipped away no
matter how he tried to hold them, and new thoughts and images filled his mind
with the beautiful, the meaningful, and the disturbing.
He was lost somewhere beneath Ryoko's skin, their hoarse breathing filling the
room, as the white sheets pooled around their writhing hips. He could catch
glimpses of his own hair flying before his eyes as he looked down upon Ryoko's
idyllic features. A sweep of dark lashes brushed her flushed cheek, and her
parted lips whispered soft promises into the space between them. It was as
though he could see her in flashes, the pale skin of a thigh, a flush across her
chest, the dusky pink of her breast brushing against his tanned skin.
"Tell me the truth, lover," Ryoko whispered as she suddenly fixed him with an
icy glare. "Is any of this real? Or are you simply a dream who plays at being
a man?" She smiled cruelly, and laughed at his look of shock and pain as she
flung her head back with her final pleasure. The room around him dissolved with
her, and he was alone in an impenetrable blackness. It brought back that
drifting, disconcerting feeling that had been part of those millennia of
entombment. He could feel another presence watching from behind him.
"They really don't understand us anyways." He could hear a voice close against
his ear, and he turned to see Yugi grinning at him. "You and I are two of a
kind, Hotsuma. We were both born in the darkness, and that's where we'll always
be. You'll always be with me, and we'll never have to be alone again." She
took his hands and led him to his feet.
"What are you saying, mistress?" He asked, still reeling from the sudden change
of scene. He could hear a faint echo of his own voice, as he followed her
walking on an empty, inky nothingness that stretched all around them. His long
white jacket rustled with his movements, and he was momentarily disoriented to
discover that he was now clothed. "There is no more darkness, and we aren't
going back to it!"
"Of course we are!" Yugi laughed. She spun to face him with her arms out in a
child's imitation of a bird. She pointed her index finger at him and leaned
forwards. "After all, you promised to protect me forever. You promised
vengeance for us." She hopped towards him with an exaggerated motion like a
gymnast sticking her dismount. "But then you left me for her," she noted
shrewdly.
"While I keep Ryoko away from earth, you're safe!" he replied, anger filtering
into his voice. His hands tightened into shaking fists at his sides, his
knuckles whitening at the tension. "With the Masaki's split apart no one has
the power to hurt or imprison you again! I haven't betrayed you!"
"Completely altruistic on your part is it? It's all for my benefit! Hotsuma,
you used to be a much better liar!" Yugi gleefully skipped around the enraged
pirate. Turning serious, she wagged her finger at him, scolding him. "It
wasn't nice of you to try to leave me... Don't you know you're nothing without
me?" She told him venomously. Her smile broke into a grimace, and tears filled
her blue eyes. Hotsuma flinched in surprise. "You want to leave me alone in
the dark, you bastard!" she accused.
"I didn't betray you!" Hotsuma yelled in response, reaching out for the sobbing
child. He held her by the shoulders, drawing her to him protectively. He
remembered all too well the 3500-year nightmare that had confined them both.
Again the flashes filled his vision. He saw Yugi flailing inside her coffin,
saw her locked inside her horrific stasis, heard her mental screams, felt the
weight of her pain and rage.
The child in his arms laughed eerily and stiffened as she drew herself up. Her
voice deepened slowly, and for a moment Hotsuma could hear two voices laughing
as one--a strange child's voice and the opposing echo of a full-grown woman.
Suddenly, Hotsuma felt a blinding flash of pain low in his back, and burning
agony shot through his spine. He could hear the wounded scream tear itself from
his throat, and as he looked down Yugi's face changed into that of Ryoko's.
"So am I the one you'll betray, lover?" she asked in a husky voice, as she stood
before him. Hotsuma was still holding onto her shoulders, and he sagged, unable
to stand as she pushed a wickedly sharp knife deeper into his back. She took a
step back, and he collapsed to the ground with another howl.
Ryoko stepped around his prone form, her heels clicking against the invisible
floor in this apparent void. She snorted derisively and kicked him in the ribs
as he tried to rise up on his arms. He fell back and Ryoko sat down upon his
back, resting her arms upon her knees and leaning forward.
"That's not true, Ryoko," he whispered. "It doesn't have to be either or! I'm
doing the best I can for any of us..." he growled in frustration. He couldn't
push himself up beneath her weight, and the excruciating stab in his back seemed
to have spread to all his nerve-endings. He gurgled as she slowly drew the
weapon back with a twist.
Ryoko fingered the bloodied blade with amusement, wiping the blood between her
fingers. "Don't you understand, partner? This is what it means to be a
pirate," she explained calmly. "This is how we all meet our end, brought down
from behind by a traitor. This is how you go down. Then I can go back to
Tenchi and forget all about you," she whispered leaning in towards his face.
Hotsuma watched her through wide, frightened eyes. Ryoko kissed him softly on
the cheek, and he could feel blood running down his skin as though her kiss were
a wound. He saw blood everywhere; he was lying helpless in it. Ryoko's chuckle
filtered back to him, and he could see the knife raised in her hand, plummeting
towards him as she screamed fiercely.
Hotsuma woke violently, lurching into a sitting position. He curled
protectively inwards, grasping his bent legs with his arms and locking his grip,
as he tried to slow his rapid breathing. His heart felt like a barely caged
animal flailing against his ribs. Since when had he started dreaming? The
thought panicked him almost as much as the vivid phantasm, which lingered over
him like a shroud.
The mattress shifted as Ryoko leaned forward on her knees to check on him.
She'd awoken to his strangled scream as he jerked awake. His bared back faced
her in the darkness, revealing his taut spine and the rising of his shoulder
blades in time with his shallow breaths. She hesitantly stroked his hair,
afraid of spooking him further. The contact seemed to soothe him though, and he
pressed his head back into her palm.
"Wow! That must've been some dream..." Ryoko mused. "I can sleep through
almost anything, but that reaction woke me right up. You okay, lover?" She
continued to stroke his tousled blond mane, and bent to plant a kiss on his
shoulder. "It was just a dream. Everyone has nightmares sometimes," she
comforted.
"Not me," he replied tersely. "I don't dream."
Ryoko rolled her eyes, chalking his behavior up to some male bravado thing.
"Everyone dreams," she stated flatly. It didn't take Washu's intellect to know
that. "You just don't remember them usually. On Earth Sasami usually makes hot
chocolate, if somebody has a bad dream. And then you talk about it, until you
feel better." She kissed Hotsuma's earlobe quickly. "You want to talk about it
over some hot chocolate?" she offered earnestly.
Hotsuma looked at her over his shoulder. He seemed almost himself, but his eyes
were still a trace too wide. "I don't remember it anymore," he lied, closing
his eyes and dragging her against his chest as he twisted towards her. He
rested his cheek against her hair and inhaled the familiar and comforting scent.
It was like green tea and cherry blossoms, clean and sweet. "Maybe, I'll just
spend a little time studying up for our next crime spree," he yawned against her
light blue tresses. "Thank you for the kind offer though, Princess," he said,
finally sounding like himself again.
Ryoko rested her head on his chest, as they lay back into the nest of pillows
and blankets. Hotsuma switched on the table lamp and picked up his latest
reading material, a humongous textbook on the history of the Royal Science
Academy. It was bound in leather with gilt pages. Nobody had ever robbed the
Science Academy, so it was something to aspire towards.
Ryoko had grown comfortable with his reading habit, and she thought ruefully
that it was a good thing she could sleep through so many distractions. Ayeka
couldn't sleep if there was the slightest bit of light in the room. Ryoko
wondered absently just how many bedmates Hotsuma had driven nuts with his
reading habit. Her eyes widened as the thought suddenly took on double meaning
to her. "Wait a second! How many anatomy books have you read?" she demanded,
immediately sitting up and pulling the text out of his hands.
"What?" came his confused reply as Ryoko pushed him back against the pillow.
************************************************
His thigh-high, soft leather boots thumped quietly in the deserted corridor, and
the silver knives strapped to his thighs shone dangerously as Aicheron slowly
stalked towards the two Galaxy Police Officers. "Just starting to worry about
what?" he inquired critically. He crossed his arms and crooked an eyebrow at
them, while he waited for an answer.
"Treacherous pirates who sneak up on me from behind!" Kiyone spat back angrily.
She still harbored serious resentment after their skirmish, and the cocky
fighter was the last person she wanted to have to deal with at the moment. She
pushed ahead of Mihoshi and took several steps towards the irritated looking
man.
"Last I knew, this was a hallway," he replied hotly. "Anyone can use it! And
I'm no more treacherous than any other pirate in this compound," he warned. He
clenched his jaw tightly enough to make his muscles jump.
"I don't remember any of my other opponents trying to shoot me in the head at
the opening of the match! Last I knew, we were targeting radio transmitters!"
Kiyone retorted, planting her hands on her hips as she hollered back at him.
"Didn't you try to shoot your first opponent in the hand? Or was that some
other pink-haired bimbo?" he growled. He took several more steps forward,
looking down at her.
"He was blocking the damned transmitter!" Kiyone yelled in self-defense. "I was
just trying to shake the self-assured bastard up so he'd drop his guard!"
Kiyone closed the distance between them and glowered up at the rude man. "And
don't you dare call me a bimbo," she growled threateningly.
"Well, I was just trying to shake you up," he snarled back. "If you were good
enough to make it into the final match, you should damned well be able to dodge
a shot like that! I don't pull punches just because my rival is a woman." His
hands were clenched fists at his sides, and he was shaking slightly as though
trying to hold back from shaking the pink-haired buccaneer senseless.
A sugary giggle echoed through the passageway, and both rivals turned to see
Mihoshi watching them as though transfixed by a favorite soap opera. "I think
you two look kinda... well... kinda cute together, um... Kei-lynn," she chirped
merrily. The bickering duo froze in place at her ludicrous observation.
Aicheron and Kiyone immediately stepped apart, turning away from each other as
they did so. Kiyone felt utterly embarrassed by her partner's comment and
refused to even look at the annoying man.
"You shouldn't be wandering around here alone late at night," Aicheron cautioned
standoffishly, still keeping his arms crossed over his chest and not looking at
Kiyone.
"Excuse me! I'm the one who beat you! Why should I be worried about walking
down the hall at night?" Kiyone replied, letting the anger into her voice again.
This was the most she'd ever yelled at someone who wasn't Mihoshi. Her jumpsuit
creaked faintly as she strode back towards her partner.
"Because there's a difference between a fair fight and being jumped from behind
by one of the forty men here who haven't necessarily seen a lady in a while," he
growled, turning to face both women. He tapped his foot on the stone floor.
"Well, you certainly aren't the first person that I would trust to be at my
back," Kiyone snorted indignantly. She raised her eyebrow as the brusque man
walked past her.
He looked over his shoulder briefly, and his hair fell across his face as he
spoke. "Fine. I guess your either like to walk several paces behind a man, or
you're an idiot who doesn't know how to take care of herself." He shot Mihoshi
a smile. "Want to go find the galley, Miya?" he offered.
Mihoshi looked back and forth between Kiyone and Aicheron, and her partner shook
her head vehemently against the prospect. Mihoshi twittered. "Well... okay...
sure," she agreed, happily falling into step beside the dark haired pirate.
"Hey, I wonder if Ryoko's had a chance to go shopping for everyone yet... after
all this is a big crowd to suddenly have arrive. Whadda you think, Kei-lynn?"
Mihoshi asked, as the reluctant officer jogged quickly to catch up with them.
"I think you constantly get me into trouble, Miya." She huffed.
After numerous wrong turns and about a dozen dead-ends, the trio finally found
their way into the kitchen. By then Aicheron had made a silent vow never to
follow any directions, which Miya gave him. The woman had no sense of direction
whatsoever. He glanced over at Kei-lynn, and they briefly shared a pained look.
It was a silent agreement of truce, after the tiring trek through the halls.
Miya's happy chattering still filled the air, as the other pirates plopped down
at a table too drained to be worried about food anymore.
"And I thought the mines were bad, when I was a kid..." Aicheron trailed off in
amazement as the purple Afroed cat-girl gushed about her favorite brand of
curried ramen being in full supply. He swung around to face the woman beside
him, "How do you manage?" he asked simply.
"I don't have any choice. She's both the best friend I've ever had and the
biggest curse in my life," Kiyone admitted. "You worked in a mine when you were
a kid?" she asked. There was very little information about Aicheron in the GXP
database. What he'd just said didn't really fit into the image she'd formed
about him.
He paused, confused at her sudden interest. "I grew up on Ryel. I didn't have
much of a choice," he acknowledged. Ryel was a corrupt mining planet with a
reputation not to be taken lightly. He could tell by her reaction that Kei-lynn
knew of it.
"Wow! That's a tough place to grow up. Before Ryoko came along, the Tseng Gang
was the toughest game in town. I heard they ruled Ryel with an iron fist,"
Kiyone said.
"It's a little slice of hell, but if you showed any signs of promise as far as
Tseng was concerned there was a way off. When I was fifteen I got into a fight
with one of the managers, and Tseng saw it. I gave as good as I got, despite
the fact that he had a two hundred pound advantage. Tseng liked that," he
explained. A range of emotions played momentarily across his face, before he
shut them down.
"What did the fight start over?" Kiyone asked. She rested her head against her
hand and grimaced as a loud bang was heard from the kitchen. "Are you okay,
Miya?" she called worriedly. She and Aicheron moved to check on the klutzy
woman who'd been left alone in the kitchen with sharp knives and expensive
kitchen equipment.
"Oooops," Mihoshi sang out. "Um. I had a little trouble with the microwave..."
she explained shyly. Her body blocked the door to the kitchen, but she easily
moved aside as the nervous pair moved to assess the damage.
"A little trouble with the microwave?" Kiyone demanded, as she saw the exploded
husk of the microwave oven still smoldering on the marble counter. Sharp pieces
of twisted metal were embedded into the walls, and shattered glass blanketed the
nearby counter and floor. It was a miracle Mihoshi hadn't been killed. "What
were you doing!" Kiyone yelled in frustration.
"Well I filled one of those bowls over there with some yummy curry noodles, and
I put it in the microwave. But I'd forgotten to get some vegetables from the
freezer, so I went to get them....and then....and then....boom!" Mihoshi
explained, pointing around the kitchen for reference at each part.
Kiyone looked in the direction of her finger and sure enough saw a stack of
metal bowls inside an open cabinet. "One of those bowls?" she repeated. She
groaned as her dimwitted partner nodded. Mihoshi was already biting her lip and
hunching down for Kiyone to blow up at her in much the same fashion as the
dearly departed microwave. Kiyone felt badly, suddenly. "At least you were in
the freezer when it blew," she said softly giving the sniffling cat-girl a pat
on the shoulder.
"Yeah! But it looks like you three are going to be working it off on cleaning
detail this week!" Boomed a husky female voice from behind them. Ryoko had been
looking for an excuse to leave them behind on the next job, and Mihoshi had just
given it to her in aces. No matter what Ryoko certainly couldn't take two
galaxy police officers on a robbery.
Author's Note: Okay, so Chapter 8 got fixed easily enough. Now so long as this
loads okay, I will be a happy author. Enjoy!
**************************************************
The calm room around him melted away, as sleep overtook Hotsuma. The clean
lines of the eclectic furnishings and the paleness of the bed curtains dimly
illuminated by a console on his heavy desk all faded into the fake night of the
cavern room. He could only dimly feel the warmth of the cyan haired beauty
sleeping curled against his side. Her even breathing lulled him further down
the path of sleep, and soon he was no longer aware of anything inside the room.
For him sleep had always meant a quiet phase during which he recharged his
energy from Yugi, but tonight it felt different. His thoughts slipped away no
matter how he tried to hold them, and new thoughts and images filled his mind
with the beautiful, the meaningful, and the disturbing.
He was lost somewhere beneath Ryoko's skin, their hoarse breathing filling the
room, as the white sheets pooled around their writhing hips. He could catch
glimpses of his own hair flying before his eyes as he looked down upon Ryoko's
idyllic features. A sweep of dark lashes brushed her flushed cheek, and her
parted lips whispered soft promises into the space between them. It was as
though he could see her in flashes, the pale skin of a thigh, a flush across her
chest, the dusky pink of her breast brushing against his tanned skin.
"Tell me the truth, lover," Ryoko whispered as she suddenly fixed him with an
icy glare. "Is any of this real? Or are you simply a dream who plays at being
a man?" She smiled cruelly, and laughed at his look of shock and pain as she
flung her head back with her final pleasure. The room around him dissolved with
her, and he was alone in an impenetrable blackness. It brought back that
drifting, disconcerting feeling that had been part of those millennia of
entombment. He could feel another presence watching from behind him.
"They really don't understand us anyways." He could hear a voice close against
his ear, and he turned to see Yugi grinning at him. "You and I are two of a
kind, Hotsuma. We were both born in the darkness, and that's where we'll always
be. You'll always be with me, and we'll never have to be alone again." She
took his hands and led him to his feet.
"What are you saying, mistress?" He asked, still reeling from the sudden change
of scene. He could hear a faint echo of his own voice, as he followed her
walking on an empty, inky nothingness that stretched all around them. His long
white jacket rustled with his movements, and he was momentarily disoriented to
discover that he was now clothed. "There is no more darkness, and we aren't
going back to it!"
"Of course we are!" Yugi laughed. She spun to face him with her arms out in a
child's imitation of a bird. She pointed her index finger at him and leaned
forwards. "After all, you promised to protect me forever. You promised
vengeance for us." She hopped towards him with an exaggerated motion like a
gymnast sticking her dismount. "But then you left me for her," she noted
shrewdly.
"While I keep Ryoko away from earth, you're safe!" he replied, anger filtering
into his voice. His hands tightened into shaking fists at his sides, his
knuckles whitening at the tension. "With the Masaki's split apart no one has
the power to hurt or imprison you again! I haven't betrayed you!"
"Completely altruistic on your part is it? It's all for my benefit! Hotsuma,
you used to be a much better liar!" Yugi gleefully skipped around the enraged
pirate. Turning serious, she wagged her finger at him, scolding him. "It
wasn't nice of you to try to leave me... Don't you know you're nothing without
me?" She told him venomously. Her smile broke into a grimace, and tears filled
her blue eyes. Hotsuma flinched in surprise. "You want to leave me alone in
the dark, you bastard!" she accused.
"I didn't betray you!" Hotsuma yelled in response, reaching out for the sobbing
child. He held her by the shoulders, drawing her to him protectively. He
remembered all too well the 3500-year nightmare that had confined them both.
Again the flashes filled his vision. He saw Yugi flailing inside her coffin,
saw her locked inside her horrific stasis, heard her mental screams, felt the
weight of her pain and rage.
The child in his arms laughed eerily and stiffened as she drew herself up. Her
voice deepened slowly, and for a moment Hotsuma could hear two voices laughing
as one--a strange child's voice and the opposing echo of a full-grown woman.
Suddenly, Hotsuma felt a blinding flash of pain low in his back, and burning
agony shot through his spine. He could hear the wounded scream tear itself from
his throat, and as he looked down Yugi's face changed into that of Ryoko's.
"So am I the one you'll betray, lover?" she asked in a husky voice, as she stood
before him. Hotsuma was still holding onto her shoulders, and he sagged, unable
to stand as she pushed a wickedly sharp knife deeper into his back. She took a
step back, and he collapsed to the ground with another howl.
Ryoko stepped around his prone form, her heels clicking against the invisible
floor in this apparent void. She snorted derisively and kicked him in the ribs
as he tried to rise up on his arms. He fell back and Ryoko sat down upon his
back, resting her arms upon her knees and leaning forward.
"That's not true, Ryoko," he whispered. "It doesn't have to be either or! I'm
doing the best I can for any of us..." he growled in frustration. He couldn't
push himself up beneath her weight, and the excruciating stab in his back seemed
to have spread to all his nerve-endings. He gurgled as she slowly drew the
weapon back with a twist.
Ryoko fingered the bloodied blade with amusement, wiping the blood between her
fingers. "Don't you understand, partner? This is what it means to be a
pirate," she explained calmly. "This is how we all meet our end, brought down
from behind by a traitor. This is how you go down. Then I can go back to
Tenchi and forget all about you," she whispered leaning in towards his face.
Hotsuma watched her through wide, frightened eyes. Ryoko kissed him softly on
the cheek, and he could feel blood running down his skin as though her kiss were
a wound. He saw blood everywhere; he was lying helpless in it. Ryoko's chuckle
filtered back to him, and he could see the knife raised in her hand, plummeting
towards him as she screamed fiercely.
Hotsuma woke violently, lurching into a sitting position. He curled
protectively inwards, grasping his bent legs with his arms and locking his grip,
as he tried to slow his rapid breathing. His heart felt like a barely caged
animal flailing against his ribs. Since when had he started dreaming? The
thought panicked him almost as much as the vivid phantasm, which lingered over
him like a shroud.
The mattress shifted as Ryoko leaned forward on her knees to check on him.
She'd awoken to his strangled scream as he jerked awake. His bared back faced
her in the darkness, revealing his taut spine and the rising of his shoulder
blades in time with his shallow breaths. She hesitantly stroked his hair,
afraid of spooking him further. The contact seemed to soothe him though, and he
pressed his head back into her palm.
"Wow! That must've been some dream..." Ryoko mused. "I can sleep through
almost anything, but that reaction woke me right up. You okay, lover?" She
continued to stroke his tousled blond mane, and bent to plant a kiss on his
shoulder. "It was just a dream. Everyone has nightmares sometimes," she
comforted.
"Not me," he replied tersely. "I don't dream."
Ryoko rolled her eyes, chalking his behavior up to some male bravado thing.
"Everyone dreams," she stated flatly. It didn't take Washu's intellect to know
that. "You just don't remember them usually. On Earth Sasami usually makes hot
chocolate, if somebody has a bad dream. And then you talk about it, until you
feel better." She kissed Hotsuma's earlobe quickly. "You want to talk about it
over some hot chocolate?" she offered earnestly.
Hotsuma looked at her over his shoulder. He seemed almost himself, but his eyes
were still a trace too wide. "I don't remember it anymore," he lied, closing
his eyes and dragging her against his chest as he twisted towards her. He
rested his cheek against her hair and inhaled the familiar and comforting scent.
It was like green tea and cherry blossoms, clean and sweet. "Maybe, I'll just
spend a little time studying up for our next crime spree," he yawned against her
light blue tresses. "Thank you for the kind offer though, Princess," he said,
finally sounding like himself again.
Ryoko rested her head on his chest, as they lay back into the nest of pillows
and blankets. Hotsuma switched on the table lamp and picked up his latest
reading material, a humongous textbook on the history of the Royal Science
Academy. It was bound in leather with gilt pages. Nobody had ever robbed the
Science Academy, so it was something to aspire towards.
Ryoko had grown comfortable with his reading habit, and she thought ruefully
that it was a good thing she could sleep through so many distractions. Ayeka
couldn't sleep if there was the slightest bit of light in the room. Ryoko
wondered absently just how many bedmates Hotsuma had driven nuts with his
reading habit. Her eyes widened as the thought suddenly took on double meaning
to her. "Wait a second! How many anatomy books have you read?" she demanded,
immediately sitting up and pulling the text out of his hands.
"What?" came his confused reply as Ryoko pushed him back against the pillow.
************************************************
His thigh-high, soft leather boots thumped quietly in the deserted corridor, and
the silver knives strapped to his thighs shone dangerously as Aicheron slowly
stalked towards the two Galaxy Police Officers. "Just starting to worry about
what?" he inquired critically. He crossed his arms and crooked an eyebrow at
them, while he waited for an answer.
"Treacherous pirates who sneak up on me from behind!" Kiyone spat back angrily.
She still harbored serious resentment after their skirmish, and the cocky
fighter was the last person she wanted to have to deal with at the moment. She
pushed ahead of Mihoshi and took several steps towards the irritated looking
man.
"Last I knew, this was a hallway," he replied hotly. "Anyone can use it! And
I'm no more treacherous than any other pirate in this compound," he warned. He
clenched his jaw tightly enough to make his muscles jump.
"I don't remember any of my other opponents trying to shoot me in the head at
the opening of the match! Last I knew, we were targeting radio transmitters!"
Kiyone retorted, planting her hands on her hips as she hollered back at him.
"Didn't you try to shoot your first opponent in the hand? Or was that some
other pink-haired bimbo?" he growled. He took several more steps forward,
looking down at her.
"He was blocking the damned transmitter!" Kiyone yelled in self-defense. "I was
just trying to shake the self-assured bastard up so he'd drop his guard!"
Kiyone closed the distance between them and glowered up at the rude man. "And
don't you dare call me a bimbo," she growled threateningly.
"Well, I was just trying to shake you up," he snarled back. "If you were good
enough to make it into the final match, you should damned well be able to dodge
a shot like that! I don't pull punches just because my rival is a woman." His
hands were clenched fists at his sides, and he was shaking slightly as though
trying to hold back from shaking the pink-haired buccaneer senseless.
A sugary giggle echoed through the passageway, and both rivals turned to see
Mihoshi watching them as though transfixed by a favorite soap opera. "I think
you two look kinda... well... kinda cute together, um... Kei-lynn," she chirped
merrily. The bickering duo froze in place at her ludicrous observation.
Aicheron and Kiyone immediately stepped apart, turning away from each other as
they did so. Kiyone felt utterly embarrassed by her partner's comment and
refused to even look at the annoying man.
"You shouldn't be wandering around here alone late at night," Aicheron cautioned
standoffishly, still keeping his arms crossed over his chest and not looking at
Kiyone.
"Excuse me! I'm the one who beat you! Why should I be worried about walking
down the hall at night?" Kiyone replied, letting the anger into her voice again.
This was the most she'd ever yelled at someone who wasn't Mihoshi. Her jumpsuit
creaked faintly as she strode back towards her partner.
"Because there's a difference between a fair fight and being jumped from behind
by one of the forty men here who haven't necessarily seen a lady in a while," he
growled, turning to face both women. He tapped his foot on the stone floor.
"Well, you certainly aren't the first person that I would trust to be at my
back," Kiyone snorted indignantly. She raised her eyebrow as the brusque man
walked past her.
He looked over his shoulder briefly, and his hair fell across his face as he
spoke. "Fine. I guess your either like to walk several paces behind a man, or
you're an idiot who doesn't know how to take care of herself." He shot Mihoshi
a smile. "Want to go find the galley, Miya?" he offered.
Mihoshi looked back and forth between Kiyone and Aicheron, and her partner shook
her head vehemently against the prospect. Mihoshi twittered. "Well... okay...
sure," she agreed, happily falling into step beside the dark haired pirate.
"Hey, I wonder if Ryoko's had a chance to go shopping for everyone yet... after
all this is a big crowd to suddenly have arrive. Whadda you think, Kei-lynn?"
Mihoshi asked, as the reluctant officer jogged quickly to catch up with them.
"I think you constantly get me into trouble, Miya." She huffed.
After numerous wrong turns and about a dozen dead-ends, the trio finally found
their way into the kitchen. By then Aicheron had made a silent vow never to
follow any directions, which Miya gave him. The woman had no sense of direction
whatsoever. He glanced over at Kei-lynn, and they briefly shared a pained look.
It was a silent agreement of truce, after the tiring trek through the halls.
Miya's happy chattering still filled the air, as the other pirates plopped down
at a table too drained to be worried about food anymore.
"And I thought the mines were bad, when I was a kid..." Aicheron trailed off in
amazement as the purple Afroed cat-girl gushed about her favorite brand of
curried ramen being in full supply. He swung around to face the woman beside
him, "How do you manage?" he asked simply.
"I don't have any choice. She's both the best friend I've ever had and the
biggest curse in my life," Kiyone admitted. "You worked in a mine when you were
a kid?" she asked. There was very little information about Aicheron in the GXP
database. What he'd just said didn't really fit into the image she'd formed
about him.
He paused, confused at her sudden interest. "I grew up on Ryel. I didn't have
much of a choice," he acknowledged. Ryel was a corrupt mining planet with a
reputation not to be taken lightly. He could tell by her reaction that Kei-lynn
knew of it.
"Wow! That's a tough place to grow up. Before Ryoko came along, the Tseng Gang
was the toughest game in town. I heard they ruled Ryel with an iron fist,"
Kiyone said.
"It's a little slice of hell, but if you showed any signs of promise as far as
Tseng was concerned there was a way off. When I was fifteen I got into a fight
with one of the managers, and Tseng saw it. I gave as good as I got, despite
the fact that he had a two hundred pound advantage. Tseng liked that," he
explained. A range of emotions played momentarily across his face, before he
shut them down.
"What did the fight start over?" Kiyone asked. She rested her head against her
hand and grimaced as a loud bang was heard from the kitchen. "Are you okay,
Miya?" she called worriedly. She and Aicheron moved to check on the klutzy
woman who'd been left alone in the kitchen with sharp knives and expensive
kitchen equipment.
"Oooops," Mihoshi sang out. "Um. I had a little trouble with the microwave..."
she explained shyly. Her body blocked the door to the kitchen, but she easily
moved aside as the nervous pair moved to assess the damage.
"A little trouble with the microwave?" Kiyone demanded, as she saw the exploded
husk of the microwave oven still smoldering on the marble counter. Sharp pieces
of twisted metal were embedded into the walls, and shattered glass blanketed the
nearby counter and floor. It was a miracle Mihoshi hadn't been killed. "What
were you doing!" Kiyone yelled in frustration.
"Well I filled one of those bowls over there with some yummy curry noodles, and
I put it in the microwave. But I'd forgotten to get some vegetables from the
freezer, so I went to get them....and then....and then....boom!" Mihoshi
explained, pointing around the kitchen for reference at each part.
Kiyone looked in the direction of her finger and sure enough saw a stack of
metal bowls inside an open cabinet. "One of those bowls?" she repeated. She
groaned as her dimwitted partner nodded. Mihoshi was already biting her lip and
hunching down for Kiyone to blow up at her in much the same fashion as the
dearly departed microwave. Kiyone felt badly, suddenly. "At least you were in
the freezer when it blew," she said softly giving the sniffling cat-girl a pat
on the shoulder.
"Yeah! But it looks like you three are going to be working it off on cleaning
detail this week!" Boomed a husky female voice from behind them. Ryoko had been
looking for an excuse to leave them behind on the next job, and Mihoshi had just
given it to her in aces. No matter what Ryoko certainly couldn't take two
galaxy police officers on a robbery.